The Dissolution of Communist Power

The speed and seeming ease with which the communist systems of Eastern Europe collapsed raise interesting questions about the stability of the structure that held them in place. The book explains the demise of communist power by analysing in detail the internal apparatus of the communist regime in Hungary shortly before these historic changes took place.

Originally published in English in 1992, the book is based on unique empirical material: the result of a sociological survey carried out in 1988 in the district level communist party committees of Budapest. Extensive interviewing and direct questionnaires to party workers revealed the extent of the interpenetration of communist power and society but also began to reveal the gradual self-elimination process of the communist system. As events gathered momentum in Hungary, the data gained significance as the documentation of a system in dissolution.

The study uses the methods of Foucault to provide insight into the social relationships of the old system and the connected problems of the post-communist epoch.